When a WTO member enters into a regional integration
arrangement through which it grants more favourable
conditions to its trade with other parties to that
arrangement than to other WTO members trade, it
departs from the guiding principle of non-discrimination
defined in Article I of GATT, Article II of GATS, and
elsewhere.

To
search in the WTO on-line database for documents on regional trade
agreements follow this link to access the
WTO document database,
insert the codes indicated in the document
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WTO
Members are however permitted to enter into such
arrangements under
specific conditions which are spelled out in three sets
of rules:

Paragraphs
4 to 10 of Article XXIV of GATT
(as clarified in the Understanding on the
Interpretation of Article XXIV of the GATT 1994)
provide for the formation and operation of
customs unions and free-trade areas covering trade in goods ;

the
so-called Enabling
Clause (i.e., the 1979 Decision on Differential and More Favorable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller
Participation of Developing Countries) refers to
preferential trade arrangements in trade in goods between
developing country Members; and

Article V
of GATS governs the conclusion of RTAs in the area of
trade in services, for both developed and developing countries.

Other
non-generalized preferential schemes, for example non-reciprocal
preferential agreements involving developing and developed countries,
require Members to seek a waiver from WTO rules. Such waivers require
the approval of three quarters of WTO Members. Examples of such
agreements which are currently in force include the US Ś Caribbean
Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), the CARIBCAN agreement whereby
Canada offers duty-free non-reciprocal access to most Caribbean
countries, Turkey-Preferential treatment for Bosnia-Herzegovina and
the EC-ACP Partnership Agreement.